Conor O’Shea believes Harlequins will now reap the benefits of having battled with a huge injury list in the first half of the season.

At one point in October, Quins had enough players on the treatment table – mostly senior – to fill a starting XV, forcing director of rugby O’Shea to give some of his young guns more game time than he wanted.

With most of the missing players having now returned, and only Ross Chisholm a long-term concern, O’Shea says his side will be a force to be reckoned with in the second half of the season.

He said: “It has been a real test for us, especially for the young players we have thrown in to cover for all the injuries, but those youngsters are now ready for anything and can step into the side at any time knowing what is required of them, and we know exactly what they can do.

“It has been a case of accelerated development for some of them, and not only will we see the benefits of it this season, but also in years to come – and coping with that is what it takes to be successful.

“You have to give credit to the character of the side for some of the results they have pulled out of the bag during the period when we had all those injuries – like winning at Welford Road and Newcastle, beating Gloucester, and those two wins over Racing Metro.”

In fact, the only blot on Quins’ recent copybook was a dire 14-3 defeat at Bath just before Christmas, but they bounced back with an impressive 22-6 win over Premiership play-off rivals Exeter on Saturday, ahead of a tough trip to Northampton tonight (Friday).

O’Shea added: “With all the players we have coming back to fitness, we can only get stronger, and we feel like we are now getting back to the level we were at before.

“We have some big games coming up, with Northampton followed by Clermont and Scarlets in the Heineken Cup, but every game is a big game for us now.”

Following those Heineken Cup ties, Quins return to LV Cup action at the end of the month with games against Leicester and Cardiff, when O’Shea hopes to bring back Mo Fa’asavalu, Rob Buchanan, Jordan Turner-Hall, Harry Sloan and Jack Clifford.

Joe Gray is not quite 100 per cent yet and will not be rushed back before he is ready.